2017’s Latest Hearing Aids

At Hearing Choices we work with the very latest hearing aids from the major hearing aid manufacturers and 2017 is shaping up to be one of the best years for people looking at purchasing their first pair of hearing aids or upgrading from an older device.

This features available in 2017 include rechargeable hearing aids, hearing aids that can stream streaming directly from your phone without the need for any accessories via Bluetooth and the release of the world’s first titanium 3d printed hearing aid.

While hearing aids are becoming smaller and smaller the amount of great technology the manufacturers are packing into them is only increasing. The hearing aid manufacturers launch new hearing aids every few years, the first wave came in late 2016 with the rest launching throughout 2017.

The improvements aren’t just cosmetic or for convenience, the newer chips are getting increasingly more sophisticated and able to deal with difficult listening situations such as discerning speech in noise and helping wearers in group conversations and noisy work environments.

In this article, we’ll cover some of the latest hearing aids released which are now available in Australia and through Hearing Choices’s network of trusted independent Audiologists. If you have any questions about these devices, give us a call on 1300 848 335 and an Hearing Choices hearing consultant will happy to help.

RIC or Receiver In The Canal hearing aids are some of the most versatile types of hearing aids and are generally suitable for mild to severe hearing loss. Don’t confuse this style with the older BTE type, a RIC has the receiver (or the speaker) in the ear rather than the body of the housing.

This means that the device and the cord running from the device to the ear are much smaller than traditional behind the ear hearing aids.

While RIC’s are already small, the Unitron Moxi Now is the world’s smallest hearing aid, according to Unitron the device is 20.2mm tall and 6.5mm, absolutely tiny and extremely discreet behind the ear.

The Moxi Now was recently released on the Tempus platform which uses their innovative Soundcore feature to automatically adjust the hearing aid program based on your listening environment. If you have trouble hearing in noisy environment, it’s worth seriously considering the Unitron Moxi Now as Unitron reports that the Tempus platform is up to 50% more accurate than the previous North platform.

Unitron U-Control 2.0 App

While you need an accessory to stream directly from your phone to your Unitron Moxi Now, you can use the U-Control 2.0 app to easily adjust the hearing aid programs or adjust the volume. You can also use the app to provide feedback on how the hearing aids are performing in different environments which provides an incredible amount of data for your audiologist to use to adjust and re-program the device.

For example, if you find yourself in a specific environment where your hearing aids aren’t providing great performance you can pull out your phone, log the feedback and your Audiologist can then re-program the device for better performance.

2. Oticon OPN

Why we like it: The Most Connected Hearing Aid

The Oticon OPN was released in late 2016 and is one of the most popular hearing aids on the market. It has incredible performance in group conversations and difficult listening environments using Oticon’s BrainHearing™ technology which reduces listening effort. We have received great feedback on the OPN with users reporting great performance compared to their older hearing aids.

The OPN also can stream audio directly from your phone and connect with a variety of different devices using IOT technology. We understand that you may not want to connect your hearing aid to your internet enabled fridge, but the technology is there!

While the majority of hearing aids work well in one on one conversations or quiet environments, the OPN excels in those difficult environments. The OPN’s technology can reduce the ambient background noise helping you focus on the sounds that matter.

Oticon also recently announced a rechargeable and super powered OPN which will be released in 2017 further expanding the options for hearing aid wearers. If you’re looking for a hearing aid to deal with the most difficult listening situations you can’t go by the Oticon OPN and is available now through our network of trusted Audiologists.

Phonak have revolutionised the in the canal hearing aid with the release of the Phonak Virto Titanium device in late 2016. You may be thinking why do i need my hearing aids to be made out Titanium? Well by using a titanium shell Phonak has managed to shrink the thickness of the casing by 50% which means that the device is smaller and can fit deeper in the ear canal. The Phonak Virto B titanium is a great option for people with small ear canals who may not be candidates for other invisible devices.

The Virto B uses Phonak’s latest AutoSense OS™ and is built on the Belong platform which gives excellent performance in a variety of different listening environments. We recommend this device for people who suffer from mild to moderate hearing loss and who want the latest and most discreet device on the market today.